That sentiment is echoed by one of Dash’s white counterparts, Kimberly Peirce. She relates how successfully completing a film did nothing to open doors to future projects. Julie Dash, who made Daughters of the Dust, a film that critics are reappraising as one of the most important art films of the late 20th century and centers a black family of former slaves living in early 1900s South Carolina, is one of those women. The “white” is just as important as the “men” in the above parenthetical aside, and This Changes Everything takes care to include the voices of women of color in the story. The doc makes the case that as soon as the pictures became big business – right around the dawn of the sound era in the late 1920s – those who controlled the money (white men) closed ranks, excluding anyone who didn’t look like them. Trailblazing directors like Dorothy Arzner and Alice Guy-Blaché – a filmmaker whom This Changes Everything doesn’t mention – were seen as equals to their male counterparts. The film also recounts how, in the infancy of cinema – before “Hollywood,” before the banks realized the profit possibilities of the movies – women flourished as storytellers. The film makes a Marxist feminist critique of the way moneyed interests shut women out of the filmmaking process in the industry’s early days. Because the vast number of those at the top of the power structure (studio heads, directors, writers) are male, that’s usually the only perspective we see.ĭonahue does an outstanding job of exploring the issue from both a historical and intersectional lens. Actors like Reese Witherspoon and Chloë Grace Moretz talk about how an overwhelming majority of female characters in movies and TV shows only serve to fulfill the male characters’ goals. There are also plenty of stories in This Changes Everything from women who have experienced in their own careers how our culture’s sexism is reinforced by the entertainment we consume. This proves girls can be just as empowered as boys when they see themselves represented on screen. The institute has tracked everything from the difference in the percentage of time female and male characters appear on screen to the 105% increase in interest in archery from girls in the wake of movies like Brave and The Hunger Games. So, her organization set about collecting cold, hard facts. Founded in 2004, Davis realized that in order to affect the change she wanted to see, she needed more than just anecdotal stories about how female representation in the media harms girls and women. The facts come mostly from Davis’ groundbreaking organization, The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The facts Donahue and Davis explore, the myriad talent they get on camera to speak about the subject, and the compelling story they tell make for required viewing to understand the history of gender discrimination and sexism in the entertainment industry. But it also has the potential to fizzle in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scenario. Those screenings, in conjunction with the documentary’s availability on streaming platforms, has the potential to create a lot of buzz for a movie with a vitally important message. This Changes Everything, directed by Tom Donahue and executive produced by Geena Davis, will be seen in theaters for one night only on July 22nd, 2019 as part of a Fathom Events special screening on 800 screens across the U.S. But it’s telling and more than a little ironic that a documentary about sexism and misogyny in the entertainment business isn’t getting a traditional theatrical roll out. I just watch the movies and react to them. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert on the subtleties of film distribution.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |